Well, we made a change in direction. The P-Bass and Jazz Bass lost to a Ric-type bass. So this will be my first thru-neck build. I'll be doing a lot of winging it.
I made the templates from a CAD file I got off the Internet. But I first had to do a lot of work on it before it could be used to make templates.
I'll be keeping as close to a Ric as I can and that includes a 33.25" scale. Stew Mac doesn't make templates for that scale (only 34" & 35") so I'll be cutting the frets by hand. I started with a 8/4 piece of koa, for the body sides, and resawed it to a bit over 1-1/4". The neck is going to be curly maple and the fretboard Macassar ebony. We found a piece that has brown in it that blends nicely with the koa.
I'm planning on angling the headstock 4-5 degrees. Can do that without making a scarf joint? From the side, it looks like the grain from the neck would run through the entire headstock. I'll glue up koa on either side of the maple on the headstock.
The red pencil marks are for biscuit cuts. The thru-neck is 7/8" thick and I'm planning on gluing a piece of figured sapele (from the first guitar) to the back to make up the rest of the 1-1/4" thickness needed at the body halves. When I cut the halves, I tried to get the grain to flow in a way that's pleasing to the eye while making sure the upper horn had straight grain running to the tip.
It looks too long but it's the same length as the Ric. I'll be taking this slowly.
And I won't be buying any more koa. It's tough to dimension and ridiculously expensive.